Improvement in fruit-packages



A. F. NEWELL & H. L. VAN GORDER.

Fruit-Package.

No. 220,543. Patented Ocr.14,1879.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ANDREW F. NEWELL AND HENRY L. VAN GOltDER, OF WARREN, OHIO.

IMPROVEMENT IN FRUIT-PACKAGES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 220,543, dated October14, 1879 application filed July 28, 1879.

To all whom it may conhern:

Be it known that we, ANDREW F. NEWELL and HENRY L. VAN GORDER, both ofWarren,

in the views presented.

This invention isan improvement in fruitboxes.

Said improvement consists in providing a box with a cleat extendingaround its lower inner sides and across the corners to form a rest uponwhich to support the bottom of the box, and to prevent asimilar boxplaced upon the .top ,thereof (or an upper tier of such boxes) fromsinking into a lower tier of boxes and crushing the fruit in the lowerbox or tier of boxes. Said cleat also servesas a brace to strengthen thecorners, thereby making the box stronger and more durable.

A further and more full description of the invention is as follows,reference being had to .the accompanying drawings, making apart of thisspecification, in which- The box above alluded to is square in shape, asseen in Fig. .1.' The sides A of the box consist of a single piece orstrip of thin board scored at certain distances for turning the corners.The side B, Fig. 2, of the box, is double by the overlapping of theends, which are secured by nails or otherwise.

Around the inside of the lower edge of the box is secured a re-enforcingstrip or fillet, 0, consisting of a narrow strip of wood, which isscored at certain distances to make the turns .upon the fillet andpartially by the braces D,

onto which they lap.

It will be observed that the pieces of the bottom are not so wide as thebox, and that they are arranged crosswise each other, thereby formingopenings 0 at each corner of the bottom.

It will also be observed that the upper section or piece, F, of thebottom is slightly crownin g, and therefore does not lie flat down uponthe lower piece, E.

The above-described box is an improvement on a similar box for which apatent was granted the applicant, A. F. N ewell, January 5, 1864, ofwhich this is an improvement. Said patented box had no corner-braces D,as shown in this invention; hence when the boxes were placed in a crateone upon the other for transportation the upper tier of boxes wouldslide upon the lower tier, causing the corners of the upper boxes tosettle down upon the fruit in the lower boxes, thereby crushing it,renderin g it unsightly and unsalable, unless the boxes were packedclosely in the crate, in which event it was found difficult to take theboxes out without injuring the fruit; therefore it was necessary to havethe boxes fit loosely in the crate in order to remove them.

To prevent the crushing of the fruitin the.

lower tier of boxes by the corners of the upper boxes tilting down uponit is the purpose of having the braces D across each corner of the box,so that the upper tier of boxesin the crate,

though loose therein and shifting about, the

corners cannot tip into the lower boxes upon the fruit, for the reasonof said braces, upon which the boxes will rest, though slipped from offthe edges of the lower ones; hence the fruit therein is safe from beingcrushed by the displacement of the upper tier of boxes from theirbearing upon the edges of those below. The braces also serve tostrengthen the sides of the boxes, making the same stronger and moredurable, so that the contents of the boxes can be carried with greatersafety than they could be in the box patented to me.

In having the bottom of the box a little crowning, as above described,the fruit is less liable to injury by jolting, &c., as the curved bottomserves as a spring to relieve the contents of the box from the bruisingeffects of such joltings.

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edge of the box, to form a rest for the bottom of said box, and a braceacross each corner thereof, in the manner substantially as described,and for the purpose set forth.

ANDREW F. NEWELL. HENRY L. VAN GORDER.

Witnesses:

W. H. BURRIDGE, J. H. BURRIDGE.

